Most products are produced by several process steps and have more than one interested quality characteristics. If each step of the process is independent, and the observations taken from the process are also independent then we may use Shewhart control chart at each step. However, in many processes, most production steps are dependent and the observations taken from the process are correlated. In this research, we consider the process has two dependent steps and the observations taken from the process are correlated over time. We construct the individual residual control chart to monitor the previous process and the cause-selecting control chart to monitor the current process. Then simulate all the states occur in the process and present the individual residual control chart and the cause-selecting control chart of the simulations. Furthermore compare the proposed control charts with the Hotelling T2 control chart. At last, we give an example to illustrate how to construct the proposed control From the proposed control charts, we can determine which step of the process is out of control easily. If there is a signal in the individual residual control chart, it means the previous process is out of control. If there is a signal in the cause-selecting control chart, it means the current process is out of control. The Hotelling T2 control chart only indicate the process is out of control but does not detect which step of the process is out of control.

In multivariate statistical process control it is generally assumed that the process variables follow a multivariate normal distribution with mean vector " and covariance matrix •, but this is rarely satisfied in practice. Some robust control charts have been developed to monitor the mean and variance of univariate processes, or the mean vector " of multivariate processes, but the development of robust multivariate charts for monitoring • has not been adequately addressed. The control charts that are most affected by departures from normality are actually the charts for • not the charts for ". In this article, the robust design of several MEWMA-type control charts for monitoring • is investigated. In particular, the robustness and efficiency of different MEWMA-type control charts are compared for the in-control and out-of-control cases over a variety of multivariate distributions. Additionally, the total extra quadratic loss is proposed to evaluate the overall performance of control charts for multivariate processes. / Ph. D.

Control charts are fundamental SPC tools for process monitoring. When a control chart or combination of charts signals, knowing the change point, which distributional parameter changed, and/or the change size helps to identify the cause of the change, remove it from the process or adjust the process back in control correctly and immediately. In this study, we proposed using maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of the current process parameters and their ML confidence intervals after a signal to identify and estimate the changed parameters. The performance of this ML diagnostic procedure is evaluated for several different charts or chart combinations for the cases of sample sizes and , and compared to the traditional approaches to diagnostics. None of the ML and the traditional estimators performs well for all patterns of shifts, but the ML estimator has the best overall performance. The ML confidence interval diagnostics are overall better at determining which parameter has shifted than the traditional diagnostics based on which chart signals. The performance of the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) chart in shift detection and in ML diagnostics is comparable to the best EWMA chart combination. With the application of the ML diagnostics naturally following a GLR chart compared to the traditional control charts, the studies of a GLR chart during process monitoring can be further deepened in the future. / Ph. D.

Traditional control charts for process monitoring are based on taking samples from the process at regular time intervals. However, it is often possible in practice for observations, and even entire samples, to be missing. This dissertation investigates missing observations in Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) and Multivariate EWMA (MEWMA) control charts. The standardized sample mean is used since this adjusts the sample mean for the fact that part of the sample may be missing. It also allows for constant control limits even though the sample size varies randomly. When complete samples are missing, the weights between samples should also be adjusted. In the univariate case, three approaches for adjusting the weights of the EWMA control statistic are investigated: (1) ignoring missing samples; (2) adding the weights from previous consecutive missing samples to the current sample; and (3) increasing the weights of non-missing samples in proportion, so that the weights sum to one. Integral equation and Markov chain methods are developed to find and compare the statistical properties of these charts. The EI chart, which adjusts the weights by ignoring the missing samples, has the best overall performance. The multivariate case in which information on some of the variables is missing is also examined using MEWMA charts. Two methods for adjusting the weights of the MEWMA control statistic are investigated and compared using simulation: (1) ignoring all the data at a sampling point if the data for at least one variable is missing; and (2) using the previous EWMA value for any variable for which all the data are missing. Both of these methods are examined when the in-control covariance matrix is adjusted at each sampling point to account for missing observations, and when it is not adjusted. The MS control chart, which uses the previous value of the EWMA statistic for a variable if all of the data for that variable is missing at a sampling point, provides the best overall performance. The in-control covariance matrix needs to be adjusted at each sampling point, unless the variables are independent or only weakly correlated. / Ph. D.

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A performance analysis of three different Minimax control charts is performed with respect to their Chi-Square control chart counterparts under several different conditions. A unique control chart must be constructed for each process described by a unique combination of quality characteristic mean vector and associated covariance matrix. The three different charts under consideration differ in the number of quality characteristic variables of concern. In each case, without loss of generality the in-control quality characteristic mean vector is assumed to have zero entries and the associated covariance matrix is assumed to have non-negative entries. The performance of the Chi-Square and Minimax charts are compared under different values of the sample size, the probability of a Type I error, and selected shifts in the quality characteristic mean vector. Minimax and Chi-Square charts that are compared share identical in-control average run lengths (ARL) making the out-of-control ARL the appropriate performance measure. A combined Tausworthe pseudorandom number generator is used to generate the out-of-control mean vectors. Issues regarding multivariate uniform pseudorandom number generation are addressed. / Master of Science

This project involved the design and testing of a prototype in-line chip quality monitor for gathering process control information for the manufacturers of wood chips. This monitor specifically addresses three common complaints with current chip sampling procedures. Chip sampling occurs too late in the process. It is inadequate. It is too infrequent to develop management information. The monitor is composed of a double screen drum separator to divide chips into oversize, accepts, and pins/fines. Counterbalanced tip buckets are used to weigh each size class. Tip bucket cycles are recorded by a computer via magnetic proximity switches attached to each bucket. This information is then used to chart production of chip size classes, updated continuously over the sorting period. This monitor is capable of sorting one ton of chips per hour. Two trials were conducted to test the monitor. One in a lab environment, and one on site at a chip mill. Both trials compared monitor output with independent samples classified using a Williams classifier. The trials showed that outputs were consistent with Williams output. This monitor can effectively chart chip distribution information. This process control information provides the manufacturer with immediate knowledge of chipper performance. / Master of Science

No / Rational, aim, and objectives: A positive patient safety culture in maternity units is linked to higher quality of care and better outcomes for mothers. However, safety culture varies across maternity units. Analyses of variation in safety culture using statistical process control (SPC) methods may help provider units to learn from each other's performance. This study aims to measure patient safety culture across maternity units in Oman using SPC methods. Methods: The 36-item Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) was distributed to all doctors, nurses, and midwifes working in ten maternity care units in Oman's hospitals and analysed using SPC methods. The SAQ considers six domains: job satisfaction, perception of management, safety climate, stress recognition, teamwork, and work condition. Results: Of the 892 targeted participants, 735 (82%) questionnaires were returned. The overall percentage of positive safety responses in all hospitals ranged from 53% to 66%, but no hospital had the targeted response of above 75%. Job satisfaction had the highest safety score (4.10) while stress recognition was the lowest (3.17). SPC charts showed that the overall percentage of positive responses in three maternity units (H1, H7, and H10) was above and one (H4) was below the control limits that represent special cause variation that merits further investigation. Conclusion: Generally, the safety culture in maternity units in Oman is below target and suggests that considerable work is required to enhance safety culture. Several maternity units showed evidence of high/low special cause variation that may offer a useful starting point for understanding and enhancing safety culture.

An recent finding shows that heart rate data possess self-similar property, which is characterized by a parameter H, as well as a long range dependent parameter d. We estimate H by the EBP(Embedded Branching Process) method to derive the fractional parameter d in the first part. The heart rate and R-R interval data are found to have high differencing parameter(d=0.8 ~0.9) and against the normality assumption. Thus the heart rate and R-R interval data are first fractionally differenced of order 0.5 to achieve stationarity. In the second part, we analyze the RR-interval data on the physionet and obtain the long range parameters. After fractionally differencing 0.5 order, the EBP method is adapted to estimate the long range parameter d. The EWMA and EWRMS control charts of the I(d) processes are constructed to monitor the heart rate mean level and variability, respectively for the 18 RR-interval data sets from the physionet. For the EWMA control chart the out of control percentages are chosen to the nominal probability. However, the out of control percentages are affected by the skewness and kurtosis of the process distribution for the EWRMS control carts. Generally speaking, the I(d)-EWMA and I(d)-EWRMS control charts provide a proper monitor system for heart rate mean level and variability.

Statistical Process Control (SPC), and in particular control charting, is widely used to achieve and maintain control of various processes in manufacturing. A control chart is a graphical display that plots quality characteristics versus the sample number or the time line. Interest in effective implementation of control charts for autocorrelated processes has increased in recent years. However, because of the complexities involved, few systematic design approaches have thus far been developed. Many control charting methods can be viewed as the charting of the output of a linear filter applied to the process data. In this dissertation, we generalize the concept of linear filters for control charts and propose new control charting schemes, the general linear filter (GLF) and the 2nd-order linear filter, based on the generalization. In addition, their optimal design methodologies are developed, where the filter parameters are optimally selected to minimize the out-of-control Average Run Length (ARL) while constraining the in-control ARL to some desired value. The optimal linear filters are compared with other methods in terms of ARL performance, and a number of their interesting characteristics are discussed for various types of mean shifts (step, spike, sinusoidal) and various ARMA process models (i.i.d., AR(1), ARMA(1,1)). Also, in this work, a new discretization approach for substantially reducing the computational time and memory use for the Markov chain method of calculating the ARL is proposed. Finally, a gradient-based optimization strategy for searching optimal linear filters is illustrated.